Texas State Fair 2013

 Piper has been asking for an entire year if we could go to the fair and ride the Ferris wheel!  We have been promising her for the entire year that we would take her!  Little did I know that the Ferris wheel costs a small fortune!  But it was worth the fun and excitement!  And after the ride she proclaimed, "that wasn't even scary!"  Woo Hoo!

 Big Tex was revamped after he burned in a fire last year!  The kids thought he was super cool and liked hearing him talk!

 The Ferris Wheel!  The day we attended was a Tuesday.  Briggs' birthday. Fall Break.  And, it also happened to be rainy and wet!  But we couldn't go on any other day.  We braved the rain and managed to still have a great time together!

 We saw lots of animals...camels, weird cows, baby pigs, baby giraffe and we painted pumpkins, played a silly game and ate yummy corndogs!

 And we rode the carousel!  So fun!

 The kids also enjoyed listening to Mother Goose read a few stories.  Look how big Briggs looks!  My big 3 year old!

Happy Birthday Briggsey Bear!

 Briggs turned 3 years old on October 15th!  I wasn't able to plan a party this year but we had a fun day! We started off with waffles (one of his favorite!) with candles and sprinkles!  Then he opened some gifts and played for a little bit!  After that, we spent the day at the Texas State Fair!  Piper was out of school for Fall Break so it worked out perfectly!

 The weekend after his birthday we traveled to Clinton, Oklahoma where Grammy & Papa John live. Grammy organized a birthday celebration for all the family members with October (and one November) birthday.  In all their ages totaled 324 years!

 Look at the joy on Briggs' face!

Briggs loves dancing and singing, Spiderman anything, dinosaurs, trains, riding in the stroller, "Go, Diego, Go!," "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse," chocolate chip muffins, apples, grapes, chocolate chip granola bars, yogurt raisins, wheat thins, milk, and honey nut cheerios.  He dislikes all meat except a hot dog or Chick-Fil- A nuggets, sausage, and bacon.  You know...the healthy stuff!  He wears 4t shirts and 3t pants.  His legs are still shorter in ratio to his back which has been true since he was born.  He wears a size 9 shoe and weighs about 36 pounds.  Earlier this year he had his adenoids shaved and tubes inserted into his ears!  This has helped him tremendously with his asthma/allergy stuff!  He no longer will nap and usually sleeps from 7 pm-6:30/7 am.  He wakes up running and ready to be active and does not stop until bedtime.  He is really imaginative and pretending more and more!  He is finally enjoying it when I read to him, especially when it delays going to sleep!  He definitely loves to make others laugh.  He is cuddly and sweet and prefers mama more than anyone else.  I don't mind that at all!  I don't know how tall he is but he seems to be taller and bigger than most boys his age.  At least I get a surprised look every time someone asks me his age.  He is potty trained and in a big boy bed!  We just love this little man!  

Kindergarten Camping Adventure!

Piper and Michael had the opportunity to participate in their first ever Daddy/Daughter camp out with all the girls in Kindergarten! Each grade level has a camp out with their dads twice a year through sixth grade!  I think this is going to be a great experience in building a community! This was Piper's first time to camp...in a tent!  For those who REALLY know my daughter, I'm sure you are thinking "Wow!"  The morning of, I heard her ask Michael, "Daddy, did you pack my nightlight?"  Girlfriend had no idea what she was about to embark on...in a tent...with no electricity!  But, they did have a fun time and she loved it!

 On Dad brought a camper.  I guess the girls enjoyed playing in it.  They also were locked out at one point.  Michael said it was quite dramatic!  The picture above is Piper feeding her 'wild' animals!

 Piper and two other girls sweeping the camper.

The girls lined up with their walking sticks.  They decorated these sticks and apparently will take them to each camp out and continue decorating.  Notice the huge tent in the background that is grey, red, and white.  That is our tent.  The family that has never camped!  Ha!  That was a gift to Michael from me while we were dating.  I think it has been used about 3 times, including this camping trip!

 The campers pitched their tents at Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch.  It is an educational park open to the public with many breeds of animals!  Some are rescued; others are not!  One of the dads has a connection with the owner!  Above is a kangaroo 'x-ing" his arms.  This is his sign to defend his territory.  Below is a cobra.  I guess the girls enjoyed a cobra show! Eek!

 And Piper on the last night!  I guess she wore her long johns all day as her pj's and her clothing!  Funny girl!

The Pink Panthers

Piper participated in her first soccer league this fall.  Our team name was the Pink Panthers because we are the Prairie Creek Panthers at school.  It was not her favorite experience but she finished the season with a smile which was a huge victory for her!  She loved Wednesday night practice but majorly disliked the games.  She felt like everyone was watching her.  We are learning all these new things about her and some irrational fears she deals with.  We're learning to encourage and push her through this but it can be challenging!  Her team consisted of kindergarten girls from school and the coach was a dad of one of the girls.  Oh and Piper was #3!

Piper's First Field Trip

Piper attended her first field trip to the Dallas Arboretum yesterday.  It was originally planned for the week of Halloween but had to be cancelled due to rain.  Yesterday was when the cold front moved through and we all thought it was going to be miserable, BUT...the sun shined and our coats kept us warm!  It was a fun trip and I am so thankful I am in a position to be able to chaperon and thankful that Aunt Amy watched Briggs so that I could!

 The pumpkins were everywhere and so beautiful! An employee told us they had 50,000 located throughout the grounds!

 They had a tiny petting zoo area with goats, a cow, some kind of chicken, and a bunny.

 Pumpkin face painting...for the 5th time this month I think!

 The kids went to a pumpkin class in which they discussed being a scientist using your five senses.

 Piper's kindergarten class.

Halloween Time!

Little Red and the Big Bad Wolfie!  We went trick or treating with friends in the neighborhood.  Piper loved every single bit of it!  She was sad it was over but she told Michael "I loved, loved tonight!"  She would tell every person she passed "Happy Halloween!" as if she was saying Merry Christmas!  She did that as she arrived at school even!  Funny!  I love this part of her personality!  Briggs really enjoyed walking up to each house and saying 'trick or treat!'  Michael stayed with him while I stayed with Piper and her friends because Briggs was much slower.  It was fun seeing him figure all this out this year and really enjoy it!

 My Mom sewed Piper's cape and I hot glued a lot of 'fur'!  I thought both costumes turned out really cute!

 Michael's company hosts an annual Halloween party on site for all the families before Halloween.  The kids trick or treat in the offices and they offer bounce houses, games, prizes, pumpkin decorating, food, etc.  Piper said about three times, "Oh I am so thankful!  Thank you for bringing me Mommy!"  She loved it!

 Below is Briggs' face when I say "Smile Briggs" but he won't look at the camera!  Ornery all the time!

 Piper really was into the limbo.  She had never played!  She won a cake on the cake walk!

 This was one of the bounce houses below.  Notice the giant puppy head.  As soon as Briggs saw that, he began backing away and shouting, "I don't want to.  I don't want to!"  Ha!

 Towards the end, Michael was in charge of wrangling Briggs!

 Love her sweet smile.  That is genuine joy right there!

We also carved a pumpkin this year.  Piper was all about digging the seeds out and getting dirty, but Briggs just watched and kept saying "Yucky."  

And the pumpkin seeds were delicious!